Lumia Cyan and what it brings to Windows Phone 8.1 and the Lumia 930

Our exhaustive list of what is new in the Lumia Cyan update

Lumia Cyan is the firmware half of the Windows Phone 8.1 for Nokia Lumia phones. Although many of you are using the Preview for Developers release of Microsoft's latest OS, most of you do not have yet the necessary Lumia Cyan firmware to optimize the experience. As a result, some key features are locked or not visible.

Now, with the release of the Lumia 930 we can finally get a good look at what Lumia Cyan adds to the equation. I have been going through the new flagship and comparing to other non-Cyan devices to figure out what is new. Here's what I found.

As I noted yesterday in our unboxing and walkthrough video, the Lumia 930 ships with build 12397 of the Windows Phone 8.1-operating system. For those keeping track, build 12397 is the same version as the current Preview for Developers, which, of course, means that what you have is not a beta release. The only difference is the Lumia Cyan firmware, which is tailored specifically for each model of Windows Phone. Firmware is super important as anyone who has updated a PC knows as it can allow certain drivers to work, optimize performance and enable certain functions.

From what I have noticed, these are some of the important and unique things that Lumia Cyan can enable. Note that not all of these functions are available on all Lumias, as some are dependant on more recent hardware like the quad-core Snapdragon 800. Many of these are already known, but there are a few new items too.

Double tap to wake – Most Lumias already have this function, but the Lumia Icon on Verizon does not. It looks like Nokia figured out a way to enable it with the Cyan firmware as the Lumia 930 has this ability. There is still no Glance though due to lack of display memory.

Equalizer now works through the speaker – The graphic equalizer found under Settings > Audio on non-Cyan devices is limited to just headphone usage. Nokia has finally expanded this to the phone's speaker too, letting users have fine-grained control over music. Update: the EQ does not work through Bluetooth devices.

Dolby Headphone is now Dolby Virtual Surround – Also under Audio is Dolby Virtual Surround which is explained as "Surround sound enhancement for headphones enabled only for 5.1 audio". Functionally, the two may be the same, but it does add some new features like…

Record audio for videos in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 – On the Lumia 930 (and possibly Lumia 1520, Lumia Icon) users can optionally choose to record audio for videos with Dolby's new 5.1 technology. Dolby Digital on the Lumia 930 represents the first time achieving this in a smartphone, and it should prove to be impressive

Brightness Profile – Users can set the default average brightness for their phone. Unlike the Lumia 630, which has controls for all three levels (low, medium and high), the Lumia 930 has a single slider. My guess is this sets the median, default brightness

Color Profile – With Lumia Cyan there are now three presets (Standard, Vivid and Cool) in addition to Advanced, which lets the user modify three settings, including color temperature, tint, and color saturation via sliders

Motion data – Part of SensorCore, Motion data lets users enable or disable the collection of movement information for apps like Bing Health & Fitness or Active Fitness, which can act as a pedometer to count steps. Motion data is only available for the Lumia 630, Lumia 635, Lumia 930, Lumia Icon, Lumia 1520 and devices with the modern Snapdragon chipsets

Bluetooth 4.0 LE – Some Windows Phones had Bluetooth 4.0 LE enabled with Update 3 last year, but the Preview for Developers disabled it due to changes made by Microsoft to the stack. Lumia Cyan re-enables this feature for things like Nokia Treasure Tag or smartwatches. Official apps for smartwatches and other connected devices are coming later this summer once Cyan achieves a larger rollout.

Living Images – Also announced earlier, Nokia's Living Images briefly records a second or two before the photo gets taken. When viewing the image through Nokia Camera or StoryTeller, users can see the image animated, giving life to the memory

USB Settings – Currently hidden on devices with Preview for Developers, the USB settings are finally enabled with Lumia Cyan, bringing two options for users including "Ask me before using USB data connection" and "Notify me when I connect to a slower charger."

Miracast support – Found under Settings > Project my screen, certain Lumias are getting full support to wirelessly stream content, or mirror the phone's display on Miracast devices such as PCs and TVs. You can watch my demonstration of this on the Lumia 630

New Camera algorithms – For the Lumia Icon, Lumia 1520 and Lumia 930, its 20 MP PureView camera is improved. Changes include "much better low-light performance," "better colors," continuous auto-focus, better video quality and improved RAW quality. Continous autofocus works by autofocusing the image when the camera launches (and assuming the user does not use tap to focus). If the user steps back or forward, the camera continually adjusts without the need to manual refocus saving time and removing one extra step.

No USB OTG support

There were false reports of support for USB On-The-Go (OTG) in Windows Phone 8.1, which would enable the OS to read USB thumb drives and peripherals. However, in connecting two different Micro-USB 2.0 On-The-Go (OTG) adapters along with various thumb drives this feature is not present on the Lumia 930 with full Windows Phone 8.1 and firmware.

Conclusions

In addition to the above observations there are presumably many enhancements to how the hardware interacts with the software due to Lumia Cyan firmware. For instance, Lumia Icon users with Windows Phone 8.1 without Lumia Cyan are experiencing an issue where the display does not enable on the first attempt. The Lumia 930, its sister device, obviously does not suffer from this problem. Instead, the display fades in when enabled. Technically, this is slower than the more instant LCD display on the Lumia 1520, and it is a bit odd, but it works.

Likewise when it comes to speed or lag. After spending 24 hours with the Lumia 930 I can say that Windows Phone 8.1 – and specifically launching apps – I feel slightly less lag than devices without Lumia Cyan. The difference is subtle, not in all apps and presumably has to do with optimizing the display and animations for the OS.

Overall, the enhancements Lumia Cyan brings to Windows Phone 8.1 are impressive, if not subtle. As such, users of the Preview for Developers should hold off on any final judgement until they receive the corresponding firmware. The combination of Lumia Cyan and 8.1 should address some performance issues users are suffering from in addition to any early quirks. Finally, as detailed above, there are unique functions enabled with the forthcoming update that make it worth the wait.

Reader comments

Lumia Cyan and what it brings to Windows Phone 8.1 and the Lumia 930

Wanted to change my phone from nokia 920 to lumia 930 as i am windows phone user for a long time, but changed my mind and will go for Samsung Alpha, main reason is VoIP dialer is not working in windows phones therefore i have to carry one android phone along with me to make VoIP calls, as in android and iOS so many good voice VoIP dialers are available (macdailer, iphonedailer, etc), in windows phone only one working dialer (itel) is available and quality is shit. In middle east (gulf) no phone will move(sell) if cannot make VoIP calls

i am really keen to see a better shuffle algo for the songs via music or mixradio. really annoying when the same set of 30-40 songs keep repeating.. is there some workaround to improve shuffle? lumia720 with 8.1 upgrade

I generally liked the WP 8.1 for my Lumia 520 unlocked US phone, but had to reload WP8.0 (Black) because of two big issues:

1. WP 8.1 killed my ability to tether. The carrier (service provider) tried to fix it, but couldn't. Once I reloaded Black, all is well.

2. The ability to supply an alternate or reply-to email address was eliminated. This is a serious concern for those who use their phone professionally with multiple email accounts, since they don't want to reply back with some anonymous looking outlook.com address the receiver doesn't recognize from before. Outlook provides a reply-to feature in its internet interface, but the phone software completely bypasses it, for some reason. Once again, I put it back to Black and all is well.

I hope Nokia / Microsoft announce a plan to fix these two items with a timetable so I can load WP 8.1 back on.

Nothing changed after Lumia Cyan on 925?? No USB, brightness slider, tx/rx arrow indicators etc... this update has changed nothing for me. I did everything possible, factory reset, roll back to black and re-installed from scratch etc... The versions of firmware, OS, extras+info are correct. Using Lumia system updater also indicated that nothing needs updating. I am bummed.

Looks to be region controlled, my region is India, we have yet to receive 930 here, maybe has to do something with that?

How do I use USB for tethering? Can BING it but nothing happens? So another missing useful function. Aggh.

USB Settings – Currently hidden on devices with Preview for Developers, the USB settings are finally enabled with Lumia Cyan, bringing two options for users including "Ask me before using USB data connection" and "Notify me when I connect to a slower charger."

How do I use USB for tethering? Can BING it but nothing happens? So another missing useful function. Aggh.

USB Settings – Currently hidden on devices with Preview for Developers, the USB settings are finally enabled with Lumia Cyan, bringing two options for users including "Ask me before using USB data connection" and "Notify me when I connect to a slower charger."

I'm using 930 (Vietnam) and I can't find the settings for Video as in the last picture (no Directional record or Surround or any thing), just simple 1080 or 720, ligth on/off (Microsoft Camera App and in Setttings/photos+camera). Anyone else having the same situation?

does anyone have an issue with the camera app randomly opeining when the phone is unlocked? not necessarily right after unlocking, anytime at random. sometimes while watching a movie on kickstand, sometimes while typing a number etc., but never when locked, which makes me think it isnt the button's problem.

Tap to wake is not available in L630.. I wonder if there'll be another update that will activate this feature.. I hope there is. Cause that's one really cool feature that separates Lumia from other devices.

Daniel. I search through the converstation threads for any answers but no luck. Do you have any word if Cyan might have any camera improvements for the 1020? I have had several and they all have constant color issues, issues with focus, light metering, and horrible horizontal banding with video in anything except perfect lighting. My wife's 1520 shows the horizontal banding while recording video but after saving it is gone. Video on all three of my 1020's indoors is useless and outdoors the colors keep shifting constantly particularly on green. If I film my kid on green grass then the grass keeps shifting from brown all the way to vivid green lick some sort. of an affect added afterwards. It's been driving me nuts and I keep hoping Nokia will fix it. My 920 had that at first but then they seemed to fix it. I can't believe it's back with the 1020 and nothing has been done in nearly a year to resolve it. This is supposed to be a great camera but it rarely is.

Nawzil fake... How he said that USB OTG is coming with WP8.1. One day I saw his post fully copied lines from WPcentral. I took a screenshot and commented on his post. The in few minutes he deleted his post.
And after that many times I caught him copying through WPC.
He is a liar. His leaks never makes a sense.

While a nice feature, I dare you to go up to five people on the street and ask them if they even know what USB OTG is, let alone if they have it on their phone. Point is, it is a great feature, but not as high a priority.

Living Images is an awesome idea. The 20 MP camera on my Lumia Icon is a little disappointing so I'm happy it's getting an update. It's a good camera for sure, but it's no better than the camera on my iPhone 5s. I expected a lot more from a 20 MP shooter on a Nokia phone though. All the sound stuff is meaningless to me, but that's just my personal usage patterns.

I highly doubt it. The SoC has to support it. Even Joe Belfiore said that "maybe" the 1520 might get it but nothing older. My wife has a 1520 with 8.1 and it doesn't work. I won't know for sure on her 1520 until Cyan but I wouldn't expect it on the 1020. The chip isn't capable or the wireless as it has to have WiFi Direct support.

I have an idea....... now that Microsoft owns the devices and services division of Nokia, is it possible that when they release an OS update via Preview for Developers, can they ship it with the Lumina firmware update?

Dear Nokia,
Do you have any idea what you are doing? All that we want is to have the EQ enabled for Bluetooth devices. I'm just badly waiting for this feature. All my Bluetooth headsets and speakers are left useless
I don't really care EQ enabled for Speakers (That not good for speaker either)
I really miss my rocking iTouch.
Thanks again for a useless feature.

Does it bring Battery life optimization to current lumias running wp8.1 developer preview? For me that's important because I think other concerned lumia users will agree to the current battery drain problem. L520 user.

Daniel - is Storage Check fixed? When I moved my L1020 to 8.1 it stopped correctly reporting usage by individual Apps. It only shows 5 Apps (out of probably a hundred) and instead essentially assigned all the memory usage to "Settings", which is apparently using 15 Gb of storage space. This is REALLY interfering with managing the remaining memory as I can't see which App(s) are hogging it. - Thanks

Hey Daniel, nice work on your article as always. Can you beat up MS and ask them why we can't get firmware updates for the hardware along with the developer preview? Especially since they bought the handset division. Makes sense, right?

Firmware is super complicated. The OS is one build for ALL devices. That is technically easy compared to firmware, which is customized for specific phone models, regions and carriers. It is a BIG undertaking. Maybe someday, but Microsoft already has enough on their plate with just doing the OS. Keep in mind, this is only the 2nd time they've done this...they need to learn as they go along.

Aside from stability fixes, optimization, and so on, I hope Nokia will revert the original (Portico) camera algorithms to the original Lumia x20 (520, 620, 720, 820, and 920) in Cyan firmware update. ;)

The new updates to the Nokia Camera app & Nokia Camera Beta locking the living images functionality now worries me because history hasn't been kind in such matters on my Lumia 820.

The original Nokia Camera app wasn't introduced for anything below the L920, but we all got it via this settings hack. Then the app officially came and took away the ability to manually control the shutter speed beyond 1s (which on 4s worked ABOSULUTELY OKAY on my L820 and L620). Sigh.

Figured out that the 4s option was still available if I put the shutter setting on default and pointed the at very dark areas. And this new update has even taken that away :(

(I do attempt light painting often)

The Lumia 820 is practically the same internals as the L920 - Hardware differences yes, but not that far apart - like the L800 & L710 were.

Sorry to complain here but man Nokia/MS are giving us a taste of awesome and then taking it away is not good

Daniel, does cyan sort out the distorting speaker, screen sensitivity problem or the lack of internet connectivity on 2g/3g, on this 1520? Looking forward to this phone actually working properly. Also has Nokia actually got an address or phone number in the UK. They seem to have no customer service at all.

Well I think I've read everything now but I can't remember anything useful from it... There is nothing news worthy in this update... Just seems like they are sharpening some rough corners here and there

"Brightness Profile – Users can set the default average brightness for their phone. Unlike the Lumia 630, which has controls for all three levels (low, medium and high), the Lumia 930 has a single slider. My guess is this sets the median, default brightness"

Will Cyan bring back the "Keep Wi-Fi Enabled while screen is off" option so I can have the phone turn off Wi-Fi when it's in my pocket? Preview for Developers removed this option, but only on Lumia devices.

Got all warm and fuzzy reading about the EQ changes until I saw the bit about Bluetooth. Hmmm, continue using BT and have access to change tracks with my steering wheel controls, or go "line in" on the radio face and be able to have eq'd sound.

Hey I have a kind of question/issue with the music playing of my wp. After a song finishes it doesn't just seamlessly go to the next track, but stutters half a second or so of the song that just finished before going to the next. I've noticed this on the default Xbox Music app and also on the Nokia MixRadio app. I'm wondering weather I'm the only one with this problem and if the Cyan update will fix it (or any future update for that matter). I have a Lumia 620 and it has done it from the start. Thanks for listening and I hope someone knows the answer.

Happened to me on some few occasions on my Lumia 520 running wp8.1 . Am sure its part of the minor bugs that's associated With the developer preview. Lets hope the cyan update squashes all that. Good luck mate.

So Daniel, does this Cyan firmware aleviate the buggy feeling that 8.1 has brought to all the devices running dev preview? Maybe compared to the icon running dev preview?

My Lumia 928 has a lot of random slow downs and crashes of IE and my so's 928 constantly reboots.

She keeps calling the update android, lol. I am hopeful that the cyan firmware will rid the phone of these bugs but im quite worried. I never noticed this many quirks with the mango dev release on connect.

Oh well so much for OTG and the display fading in sounds like a Fluorescent kitchen light turning on lol. Thanks for the article Daniel, think I'm going to hold onto my 920 for awhile longer and wait more details of McLaren arrive. As my 920 is still going strong and hasn't given me any major problems.

Just out of curiosity, I have two questions. Has anyone experienced microphone issues since using the Dev Preview? I remember viewing a video for a WP from a new OEM and I noticed that it had a large tile, one that stretched across the screen. Does the Cyan update add the extra tile size? Again, I can't remember this OEM, but I believe it was a mid-range phone with a screen of more than 5inches.

Could the fact that some people think they have Living Images actually be because they have taken an image with Smart Sequence? On Nokia Camera Beta, the sequence of images animates in the photo album (at least when accessed from within Nokia Camera). It's quite a nice effect.

I hope Cyan fixes the battery problems I'm having on my 920. Can't get more than 5-6 hours of low-moderate use since the last-but-one update to 8.1 now.

Man are u so spot on. Finally someone else that has the same issue like mine. I just don't get more than 4-5 hours with moderate use with my 920. I'm so pissed off that I don't even know how to manage with my 920 as my primary phone. The only issue that bugs the 920. Sad. I'm pretty sure Lumia Cyan isn't going to fix it.

I had to disable almost all of my running apps on the background except for emails so battery wont drain too fast and I disabled the glance also. When im traveling, i have to put my phone on *conserve battery* mode just to assure myself that my 920 will survive for the rest of the day and until I get home. The battery really sucks that I can't evem use the full functionality when going outside because of conserving the battery. :(

I really hope Cyan fixes the performance issues on my 1020. The home screen tiles lagging like hell is inexcusable. I even removed the Cortana tile from my Start Screen, still shows a bunch of blank tiles as I scroll.

I am having this issue as well on my 1020, as well as focus issues while zooming in video...at max zoom while videoing it is out of focus...by chance are you experiencing that as well? Really hoping Cyan takes care of all this or I may have some decisions to make in the fall.

I get the blank tiles thing every now and then as well, a little wait normally just loads them in after a while. In the mean time, don't move them around too often and you'll memorize the location of the right apps anyway.
-Lumia 620

Why is it so hard to apply the brightness setting, and flashlight to the action center? I haven't heard anything about it. I think Microsoft doesn't want to be seen as mimicking Apple's software. But really? C'mon... Those features would be so useful.

Hi. I have read through all the bits there. To be honest the only thing that has grabbed me is the equalizer. Does this mean I can adjust the equalizer on speaker on my 1020. ????? Ihave missed this feature since old nokia

REALLY REALLY REALLY HOPE microsoft changes its mind on the NO LIVING IMAGES for the earlier phones. I have a L920 and I hope after the Cyan update I get the living images back. Had that briefly while using the Nokia Camera Beta app on WP8.1 :D

If it's not enabled on the L920 after cyan is installed, it may be a limitation of the phone. Why would they pick and choose which devices get Living Images? That makes no sense unless it's something that just does not play well on the 920.

Whenever I try to enable auto time update, it takes my time zone as UTC -4:00 (Cuiaba). Probably this is a bug in the Preview for Developers and it doesn't recognize the daylight savings time? I am on EST (UTC -5:00) but since we are observing daylight savings, it is UTC -4:00. Anybody else having this issue? (Nokia Lumia 920, WP8.1DP)

Quick workaround: I have set my time manually and not using auto time update.

I hope they better fix this in the final general public release of 8.1.

I'm on ATT too, followSol. I'm concerned about DataSense also. And Qi charging for my 920. I've been hollering a bit on AT&T's forums, as have others.

I can only think that their reason for disabling DataSense is because they don't want people griping when their numbers differ. My mobile share plan has 3 phones on it. Data Sense works locally, not globally. I have to add up the usage for each phone to get near the number AT&T has on record. I'm assuming people wouldn't understand that, read how it works, and then complain if they go over their limit.

I just want to be able to note which apps are data hogs and hold devs accountable. If an app is a hog, I can either decide to disable running in background, use it only with WiFi, or uninstall it altogether.

Problems on wp8.1 to be get fixed
1 display problem loading of tiles as it goes blank many times
2 battery improvements
3 flow while pressing Windows logo is laggy
4 notification center lag when there are too many notifications

Due to the fact that Nokia is Microsoft now, I hope they make Nokia Camera the default camera app in all of Windows Phone. Like they could make those circle buttons, adding burst, and basically combining both apps. Plus I'm sick of device- exclusive apps and hope they add it to all.
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